John Tobin De La Puente

Dr. Tobin is an ecologist and attorney with over two decades of private sector experience, having worked in the international finance industry for much of his career. Following a decade of corporate legal practice in the area of emerging markets finance, while actively providing counsel on environmental conservation matters on a pro bono basis, he turned his full attention towards the growing area of corporate sustainability, becoming Managing Director and Global Head of Sustainability at Credit Suisse. In this position, he pioneered a variety of initiatives and policies aimed at setting the finance industry on a more sustainable course. In 2016 he transitioned into a faculty position at Cornell University, where he teaches corporate sustainability, environmental and social risk management, impact investing, environmental finance, and related topics to undergraduates and graduate students in business and public affairs. His research focuses on the use of financial tools to generate positive outcomes in the areas of sustainable development and biodiversity conservation. In addition, he actively engages with industry and civil society to develop financial solutions to sustainability problems, including as co-founder of the Coalition for Private Investment in Conservation (CPIC). Dr. Tobin has extensive leadership and governance experience in not-for-profit entities at the board level, particularly in the areas of environment, science, and education.

Selected Publications

• The Little Book of Investing in Nature: A simple guide to financing life on Earth, Ed. John Tobin-de la Puente, Ed. A.W. Mitchell. Global Canopy. (2021)
• Deutz, Andrew; Heal, Geoffrey; Niu, Rose; Swanson, Eric; Townshend, Terry; et al. "Financing Nature: Closing the Global Biodiversity Financing Gap". The Paulson Institute, The Nature Conservancy, and the Cornell Atkinson Center for Sustainability. (2020): 258 pp
• Fitzgerald, Timothy; Higgins, Phoebe; Quilligan, Emma; Sethi, Suresh; Tobin-de la Puente, John. "Catalyzing fisheries conservation investment"Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment. 18.3 (2020): 151-158
• Rodewald, A.D.; Arcese, P.; Tobin-de la Puente, John; Sayer, J.; Hawkins, F.; et al. "Innovative finance for conservation: roles for ecologists and practitioners"Issues in Ecology. 22 (2020): 1-35

Academic Degrees

• PhD Harvard University, 1995
• JD Harvard University, 1995
• BS University of California, Los Angeles, 1986

Faculty Expertise

• Sustainable Business
• Corporate Finance
• Environmental, Energy and Resource Economics and Policy
• Ethics
• Global Business
• Investments
• Law
• Strategy
• Emerging Markets